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I posted this on the third trimester thread too but since I fall into this category too and have exchanged posts with some of the wonderful moms and moms to be on this thread I thought I'd post our story here too: This is a bit delayed as nursing and sleeping have become my priorities but I thought I'd share our birth story. Labor was very long but not too difficult until the last half hour. No meds except the stadol (muscle relaxer) was used at 4 am to help me sleep. I highly recommend this drug and if I had known how much it would have helped my labor progress I would have taken it earlier..lol. I woke up Sunday morning (the 8th) with contractions (actually this was nothing new as I had been having contractions for a few days) that were 12-14 minutes apart, not too uncomfortable but for the first time I was really feeling them in my back too. I went about my daily routine and began really losing my plug and having bloody show around 10 am. I began to get excited knowing that this was finally IT. I put my husband on notice..lol..it was nice that it was Sunday and he was home and I made my older sons stay close to home as they were responsible for their 4 year old brother when I went to the hospital. My husband and I went out in the early afternoon to run errands (Home Depot, etc..) and the contractions were 8 minutes apart uncomfortable but nowhere near painful. Came home, took a shower, made sure I had everything I needed for the hospital and relaxed a bit and began watching a movie with my husband. Contractions were about 4 minutes apart at 5 pm, again uncomfortable and a little painful (I knew I wasn't close to active labor yet). My husband started panicking when I told him they were 4 minutes apart so I agreed to go to the hospital. Got to the hospital in 10 minutes and they didn't have my pre-registration on file..wonderful, so we had to sit there and give all the information again. As I was sitting there timing my contractions by the clock on the wall I felt a lot more discharge then I had all day (sorry if this is tmi) and thought maybe I am leaking fluid. They wheel me up to L and D and give me one of those attractive hospital gowns to change into and as I was dressing I discovered I was bleeding like a heavy period bleed. I got so scared and told my husband this is not normal. He called my doctor into the room and she was surprised too. She checked my cervix to see if my placenta was in the way but everything was normal and I was 4 centimeters dialated and 80%effaced. I stayed like this for the next 10 hours!!!! I was horrible..lol. I wasn't in a lot of pain and tried everything to progress labor naturally...no luck. At 4am I was still 4 cent and 80 % effaced, agreed to take some stadol to go to sleep. I slept good inbetween contractions until 6am and then the real pain started..lol..the kind were you can't help but moan through tthe contractions. My midwife checked me at 6:25am and I was 7 cent and 100% effaced. I told my midwife she had about 5 minutes to prepared for delivery. I knew once I hit transition at 7 centimeters birth was within minutes. All the nurses came into the room to set everything up and prepare for the baby and she was born at 6:32am. My husband also helped with everything (have to give credit where credit is due) and stayed awake the whole time, gave excellent back massages, and helped me push and stay in control at the end and then cut the cord. To understand how amazing this is you have to understand that my husband comes from a part of the world(Turkey) where men would never dream or want to enter a labor room and it is completely unheard of husbands assisting their wife during labor (This is all done by the female members of the family, mother, sister, etc..). This is our 1st daughter after having 5 sons (ages 19 thru 4) and I can happily say I am done having babies..lol. Here is a link to her hospital picture : http://www.cgh.org/NewArrivals/NewArrival.asp?which=028990. The support I have found on this website has been wonderful, thanks to all the warm and great women out there who I know will be wonderful mommies!